Mythology 101
by TylerxJane
Summary: College AU. SwanQueen. Emma Swan never believed in the Supernatural or any mythical type things, however, as she heads off to college at OSU she falls for her Mythology teacher, Regina Mills. Who just so happens to be a vampire. I suck at summaries and this is my first fic so I apologize but I swear it's better than it sounds. TW for self harm and abuse. Rated M for that reason.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own OUAT or any of it's characters. I've never done anything like this before so please be kind in your reviews! **

**TRIGGER WARNING: This applies to the whole story but at the beginning of each chapter I'll let you know what specifically is triggering in that chapter. For instance this chapter has a heavy trigger warning for Self harm and parental abuse. **

**All mistakes are mine and I deeply apologize. Enjoy!**

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><p>It was a week and a half till move in day when she heard the ping of an incoming email. It was from her college.<p>

_**Ms. Swan, **_

_**We have noticed you failed to choose an elective when registering for classes. Please select an elective from the following courses listed:**_

_**Yoga, Freshman PE, World Religion, Art History, Sign Language or our newest elective Mythology 101: The Study of M**_**_ythical Creatures_****.**

_**Thank you,**_

_**The staff at Oregon State University.**_

Sighing Emma began to click through the courses listed reading each description. None of them seemed interesting at all which is why she had failed to choose one in the first place. However, there was one that caught her eye. Mythology 101. She never believed in that sort of stuff but maybe learning about it would be more interesting than studying a piece of art or hearing everyone argue why their religion is the best. After short consideration she added the class to her course list and went ahead and ordered the book.

Emma got up from her desk and went to lay on her bed side ways allowing her head to hang off the edge. She had a huge picture window looking out into the forest that was her backyard. Her foster father insisted on living on the outskirts of town. Not wanting to have a lot of uppity neighbors. Emma rolled her eyes at that when he told her and the thought still caused her to roll her eyes. Staring out the window admiring the way the trees looked against the sky upside down (from the way she was laying) a soft buzzing coming from her nightstand ruined her admiring. Sitting up to see who it was her stomach dropped a little when she saw the name on the screen. It was a text from Neal. They had been dating for two years but recently she had sort of been avoiding him. She picked it up and swiped right on the screen to see what he had wanted.

_**Hey, I miss you. Haven't seen much of you lately. You're leaving next week and I really want to see you. Lets go have lunch. I'm on my way to get you now.**_

Guilt pooled in Emma's stomach reading the text. He loved her so much and she wasn't sure she felt the same way. Letting out a deep sigh she walked over to her closet to find something to wear. Grabbing one of her long sleeve high school club tee's off a hanger and pulling out a pair of running shorts from her dresser she threw her hair up in a bun and went downstairs to wait for Neal.

He was there within 5 minutes. Emma walked out to his red pick-up truck that she had to hoist herself into because of how high up it was. He leaned over to kiss her but she turned her head so the kiss landed on her cheek. The ride into town was a bit awkward and silent for the most part. Aside from the radio playing softly. They went to their favorite pizza shop in downtown Redding. Emma went and found them a table while Neal went up to the counter to order their food. There was a table over near a window so Emma went and picked that one. She found herself staring out the window again watching the people walk by. As she sat there waiting for Neal her mind began to drift. Thinking back on the last few years. Her high school days. Redding has been Emma's favorite "home." Emma was given up at birth and spent her life in the foster system. About 3 years ago she was sent here to California from Boston to live with James, her foster father. He was nice enough in the beginning, however, Emma was just a publicity stunt. A way to make his image look better. Though he fed her and clothed her and was sending her to school so she couldn't complain too much. She had been in worse homes. When she started school she instantly became friends with a ver talkative brunette, Ruby, who then later introduced her to Neal. The three clicked really well and became the best of friends. Her, Neal and Ruby used to come to the pizza shop all the time. She smiled slightly at the memories they all had here. Soon that was all going to be changing. Emma had been accepted into Oregon State University which was her first choice. She always loved the pictures she had seen of Oregon and decided that that was where she wanted to go to school. Neal was staying in state and going to UCLA and Ruby was taking a semester off to figure some stuff out with her life. At first making the choice to go out of state was really hard. She was going to be leaving her boyfriend and best friend to go to school over 300 miles away. However, recently, she was almost excited to get away. Her feelings towards Neal had changed ever since the first time they had sex two and a half months ago. She had been excited to share something like that with someone she thought she loved so much. She loved Neal but didn't feel like they had a complete connection. She thought this would make their love and connection complete. That it would bring them together the way other couples were. However, when it finally happened it caused just the opposite feeling. She felt further away from him. It wasn't like she was expecting. She hated it and realized maybe they didn't have a romantic connection at all. Which left her feeling so confused. Suddenly everything she thought she knew about her future slowly started shifting.

Emma was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a hand rest on her own. It was Neal. He smiled but his smile was sad. They sat there in silence for a moment before he opened his mouth in attempt to speak. He did this several times before words actually came out. "A-are you sure you really want to go to OSU?" Emma sighed annoyed, pulling her hand away and straightening her back. They had had this fight several times over the summer. Always resulting in Neal storming off pissed off at her for standing her ground. "Neal." Emma stated firmly. "We have been over this time and time again. I'm not staying here. I need to get away. So, yes. I am sure. OSU has been my dream for years. It was my number one choice and I got it so that is where I will be going." Emma was typically a very quiet timid girl but she was sick of having this fight. She had gotten louder and louder to the point where she was almost yelling by the time she finished what she had to say. As Neal just sat there blinking surprised by the unusual outburst Emma stood up and began to walk away. Neal calling after her as she kept walking. She needed to get away. Clear her head. Sort things out.

As Emma walked down the sidewalk she remembered that Neal had driven her here. Ruby's house wasn't very far from here. Only a few blocks. But she wasn't home. Once a month her family goes up to her grandmothers in Ashland for some sort of Wiccan moon ritual or something like that. Frustrated and needing somewhere to go she headed in the direction of her best friends house anyway. The old tree house they played in when they were kids still stood strong in the backyard. She decided that would have to do.

The walk to Ruby's wasn't very far. Within 10 minutes she was there. Ruby's house was at the end of a cul-de-sac with nothing but trees behind it. Emma walked the outside of the fence searching for the loose board she and Ruby had used plenty of times. Staring up at the old tree house it still looked the same. Just a little smaller now that she was bigger. She climbed up the ladder and hoisted herself through the floor door. Standing and taking in her surroundings she smiled slightly realizing how not much had changed. Ruby's little brother Toby had been the one to come up here now but everything still looked the same aside from some books about his latest obsession with werewolves. Laughing slightly at the thought of such a creature Emma made her way to the middle of the small room and just collapsed letting out a small scream of anger and frustration at her situation. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she pulled out her phone. Neal had texted her and called her 4 times now and left a voicemail every time. As Emma read the text and listened to the voicemails she could feel guilt pooling in her stomach. At the end of every text and voicemail he told her how he loved her. She couldn't believe she actually raised her voice with him. It was her dream to go to OSU and she just wanted him to understand she didn't want to change her mind. She hadn't meant to speak out so much though. Feeling her phone go off again she squeezed her eyes shut tight preparing to read another message from Neal. When she opened her eyes however, she was met with a different name on her phone screen. It was a text from her foster father. "Get home. Now." The guilt quickly faded as it was replaced by something far worse. Fear and panic. Scrambling for the hole in the floor that would lead Emma back to the ground she started running her mind over what probably happened. Neal must have gone to her house looking for her. He must have told her father what happened at the pizza shop. He was going to be so angry with her. He may not have had Emma her whole life but in the last 3 years he did have her he definitely raised her better and she should know better than to raise her voice especially in public. Her father loved Neal and wanted him to marry Emma. He was half expecting a proposal at their high school graduation. Emma was pretty sure it wasn't Neal he loved so much as Neals family's money. As Emma made her way out of Ruby's back yard and back towards the town she took off in a light jog not wanting to keep her father waiting any longer.

When she got to her front door she paused for a moment. Unsure that she actually wanted to go in. She didn't know what to expect. Taking a shaky breath she opened the door and called out "James..? James, I'm home.." When she got no reply she continued further into the house looking for him. She found him in the kitchen he had a stern look on his face as he stood over the island his hands gripping the sides firmly staring down at the glass in front of him. He had been drinking. Again. And by the smell of it had been drinking quite a lot.

"Emma" he began to speak.

She just stood there waiting.

"I thought I raised you better than this. You know better than to speak out like that." His voice was the eerie calm it always was when he was about to go off.

"Neal may not be the brightest boy but he's the only way you'll make anything of yourself. Without him you won't be anything. You should be honored that he's taken an interest in you and you'd be smart to apologize to him."

"But James.." Emma began but was cut off.

"You need him. He's the only one who's going to love someone like you." He spat out with slight venom in his voice.

"No one else is going to love a useless idiotic girl such as yourself."

Tears started streaming down Emmas face. The next thing she knew her knees hit the floor and there was a stinging in her cheek.

"Stop crying!" Her foster father yelled as the back of his hand collided with Emmas face. He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and shoved her towards the door. "Go to your room. I don't want to see you. Neal will be here in the morning for you to apologize." Emma scrambled to her feet and ran up the stairs closing her door to her room behind her. Leaning her back against the door she slid down to the floor where she began to sob. Emma could hardly breathe she was crying so hard. Everything her foster father had said running over in her head. She crawled across the floor to her nightstand pulling open the top drawer and moving a few things to reveal her small purple box. Pulling open the lid she got out the blade that lay inside. She stared at the object in her hand for a moment before pulling up her sleeve. Taking in a shaky breath she pressed the cool metal to her arm. _Once_ for not being a better daughter, _twice_ for everything her foster father said about her, _three times_ because she knew it was all true. Dropping the blade she let her head fall back against her bed and just sat there taking it all in. After the euphoric feeling of the release passed Emma made her way to the bottom drawer of her desk pulling out her first aid kit and tending to her fresh wounds. Once they were all bandaged up she got ready for bed knowing she would have a long difficult morning ahead of her.

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><p><strong>There's chapter one! It's not terribly long but yeah. Next chapter Regina will be introduced into things.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT.**

**A/N: So sorry it took me so long to update! I had my wisdom teeth out on Monday and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for this chapter. I got halfway through it when I got stumped on how to let you all in on Regina's vampire past when this came to mind so I had to change gears and I cranked this out! It isn't great but I took what popped into my head and ran with it. So this is set in the past. It does mention two different town names and that's because Marysville, Oregon was renamed to Corvallis in 1853.**

**I was so excited to see all the follows this got on the first chapter! Thank you all for the reviews and to answer the one question yes, this is a Swan Queen fic! Thanks for sticking around and welcome to the new folks! Enjoy! Don't forget to review.**

It was early fall of 1843 in Marysville, Oregon where The Mills gave birth to their one and only child. The Mills family was the wealthiest of all the families in the area. They owned the most land. Miles stretched on with horse farms and crop fields. Being a wealthy family they had many servants. Though two stuck out amongst the rest. Two of them had become the best friends of their daughter, Regina. Elsa and Daniel arrived together 13 years after their daughter was born. Elsa was around 12 and her brother, Daniel was about 16. They showed up on the doorstep of the Mills residence claiming their parents had been killed and they had nowhere left to go. They offered to be of service to the Mills in exchange for food and shelter. Elsa became a handmaid and Daniel a stable boy. Regina took a liking to them right away. Elsa was the same age as her which was nice. None of their other help were even close to her age and there weren't many children in the area as they owned most of the surrounding land.

As years had gone on Elsa and Regina had become very close. They told each other everything and did everything together. Elsa and Regina quickly became best friends which led to Regina and Daniel becoming close as well seeing as the brother and sister were almost inseparable. It was around Regina's 20th summer when Daniel and her had been walking through the stables to get Regina's horse ready for her lesson when he said "she fancies you, you know."

"Wh-what?" Regina stuttered out.

"Elsa, I believe she has taken quite a liking to you."

At first she was appalled. She was a woman after all. Women aren't supposed to like other women. It just wasn't heard of. Wasn't right. All she could say was "Oh." The rest of their day there was spent in silence as thoughts ran through her mind. She hardly paid any attention to her lesson. After about an hour or so of running the last several years of knowing Elsa realization hit her hard. It was then that she realized what she felt for Elsa was more than friendship as well. She found herself always wanting to be around her. Wanting to hold her. Sometimes she even caught herself staring longer than she should have at the other girl. She fancied Elsa as well. And she was going to tell her. Suddenly Regina hopped off her horse and ran to Daniel throwing her arms around him giving him a huge hug.

"Thank you!" She yelled as she took off running towards the house to find her. Luckily she found her quickly in the maid quarters tidying up her own side of the room. Regina just stood there in the doorway staring at the beautiful girl in front of her. She hadn't thought this part through all the way. She had no plan. She didn't know what she was going to do or say. Elsa finished what she was currently doing and turned to leave the room when she saw Regina.

"Oh! Regina, you scared me!" Elsa laughed. "What are you doing down here? Aren't you supposed to be riding?"

Regina didn't say anything but instead strode purposefully across the room till her and Elsa were only inches apart.

"Re-regina..wh-what are yo-" The rest of her sentence was cut off as Regina pressed her lips softly against Elsa's. She paused waiting for the other girl to pull back. To push her away and demand she left. Though to her relief Elsa deepened the kiss and pulled Regina closer. Finally they broke away for air and let their foreheads rest together while staring into each others eyes.

"I've wanted to do that for so long.." Elsa spoke first.

"Daniel told me you fancied me..and at first it shocked me..but then after I thought about everything..I realized that I too fancy you.."

"I'm going to kill that boy." Elsa laughed.

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say after I helped you!" A voice came from the door. It was Daniel standing there smiling.

Regina took a few steps back from Elsa shaking her head and laughing.

It wasn't until Regina's 22nd birthday that she found out the two of them weren't really related and that they were actually quite different people than she thought they were. Regina had been thrown from her horse and was hurt very badly. She had a concussion and they suspected she had been bleeding internally due to the bruise on her stomach. The doctors all said there was nothing they could do and that it was best everyone make peace and say their goodbyes. Elsa and Daniel had waited till everyone else had left the room before coming in. However they weren't there to tell her goodbye. They were going to heal their friend. A tear slipped down Regina's cheek as she saw the two of them come in the room. She didn't want to tell her friends goodbye.

"I'm sorry.." Regina began.

"No, shh, don't." Elsa said as she leaned in and kissed Regina's head. "You're going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine I just need you to trust me."

"No..everything isn't fine..I'm dying Elsa..you need to realize that.." Regina did her best at holding back the tears.

Elsa and Daniel both just shared a look. Daniel nodded to Elsa confirming that now was the time. Elsa took a deep breath before she began.

"Regina..look..I know this might not make sense and you're going to think I'm crazy but..I can help you..I can fix this.." She motioned to Regina in the bed. Regina opened her mouth to protest but Elsa continued.

"No, listen, I..I have..powers..I'm..I'm a witch.."

Regina just stared at her not blinking for a moment before she started laughing.

"Elsa..a witch? Don't be ridiculous!" Regina laughed out.

Elsa just glared at Daniel silently begging for his help.

"She is Regina. She's a witch and she can help you." Daniel tried affirming.

"Right, and are you a wizard?!" Regina asked still laughing.

Growing frustrated Daniel bared his teeth revealing his pointed canines, his eyes darkening and veins growing more visible.

"No, I'm a vampire!" Daniel growled.

Regina gasped and then began to cough. Elsa rolled her eyes and smacked Daniel upside the head for losing his temper on Regina. When Regina pulled her hand from her mouth it was covered in blood. Quickly Elsa put her bag down and pulled a big book out. She tossed it at Daniel and told him to make himself useful and open it to page 397 while she continued to dig a few more items out that were required for her to do her spell before quickly setting to work on her dying girlfriend. She had done this before so she finished rather quickly. Once she was done she laid by Regina's side. Only time would tell of her success.

An hour later Elsa was curled up on Regina's side. The healing spell seemed to have went well but Regina was exhausted from the days events. When she finally woke Daniel was the first person she saw. He was sitting awake in the chair across the room. Noticing she was awake he made his way across the room so they could talk. Regina carefully sat up trying not to disturb her sleeping girlfriend. Her witch girlfriend. It was still all so strange to her. Her girlfriend was a witch, her best friend was a vampire, and she was no longer dying. Daniels voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry I scared you earlier. We just didn't have much time if we wanted to save you and I needed you to believe us."

"It's okay. You guys saved my life I can't be too mad." Regina laughed slightly.

"I know it's a lot to take in. And I know none of it makes sense. Before I was a vampire none of it made sense to me either." Daniel shook his head remembering his human days.

"Before? So, you weren't always a vampire?" Regina questioned. She was curious about her friends real story.

"Nope. I was a real human boy." He laughed. "I lived a normal life. Had a family and everything. I was 18 when it happened. I was walking through the woods one night collecting firewood when I heard a noise. I figured it was a deer so I thought nothing of it. Then the next thing I know something had a hold of me and is biting me. But not just biting me sucking on me. Drinking my blood. I blacked out and the next thing I know I'm in a cellar a day later with a horrible headache. There's a strange person in front of me. I try to scramble to my feet but I'm chained to the wall. My vision was slightly blurry but eventually it came back in full. The man was just standing there staring at me until he finally spoke up. He told me he was a vampire and like you I laughed in his face. He bared his teeth just like I did. I told him he was insane. Called him a monster and this time he laughed. When he finally stopped he told me I was a monster now too. He said he 'turned me'. I was now a vampire. His vampire. It took me about a week to come to terms with everything and get a grip on my new reality. He didn't really tell me much so I had to figure things out as I went. Finally one night he told me I needed to sever all ties with my previous existence and start fresh. I said goodbye to my family and that was that."

Regina just sat there wide eyed. She never in a million years believed in this sort of thing. Had never even heard stories until now! It was all so crazy.

"So, how did you meet up with Elsa again? If you said goodbye to your family?" Regina asked.

"Well, we aren't really family. She's simply _like_ a sister to me. I met her shortly after I had been turned. My sire kept me in a cellar during the day because I couldn't be out in the sunlight without it burning my skin-" Regina interrupted him.

"Yeah, I thought lore said you were 'nightwalkers' or 'children of the night' you aren't allowed in sunlight, it can kill you but you're in it all the time with me.." It came out as half question half statement.

"I'm getting there." Laughed Daniel. "My sire had a ring that he never took off. It was spelled by a witch so that he could walk in the day light. One night he had me come up stairs to help him retrieve a large wooden box. It was heavy. We carried it downstairs and he ordered me to go back to my bed. He opened the box and pulled a bag out before reaching in and pulling something else out. It was big and odd shappen. Thats when I realized it was a body. I had just carried a body. He informed me she was alive and told me not to worry. 20 minutes later the girl awoke and he threw the bag at her telling her she needed to figure out how to make me a daylight ring or he'd kill her."

"No!" Regina cried out causing Elsa to to jolt awake.

"R-regina! Are you okay?" Elsa asked, startled.

"Yes, I'm sorry, my love. Daniel was just telling me about being turned and him meeting you."

"Oh? What has he told you?" Elsa arched an eyebrow as she looked over towards Daniel.

"I was just telling her about when Leopold left you in the cellar with me to make my ring." Daniel said.

"Ah, yeah. I remember that. I was terrified. The man had just killed my family in front of me and kidnapped and left me with a strange man who I assumed was a vampire that was definitely going to kill me. However, that wasn't the case. He was actually very kind. He even offered to help me. I had no idea what I was doing. I was only 8 at the time. I hadn't learned such difficult magic yet. But with Daniels help we managed to figure it out and I made him a ring. Though the ring wasn't the only thing Daniel helped me with." Elsa said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Regina asked turning to look at her girlfriend. They had shifted so she was in Elsa's lap while Elsa leaned against the headboard.

"I had made her a promise. I promised that if she let me help her and we made that ring that I would save her and get her out of there. I helped her learn a few spells and we did some reading on vampires and how to kill them and we came up with an escape plan. So on the day she made my ring when Leopold came back from a hunt we attacked. Elsa spelled him long enough for me to attack. She stopped him dead in his tracks while I staked him. We ran away that night and I couldn't leave an 8 year old orphan on her own so we bounced from state to state together for a while. Then we landed here in Oregon. This is the longest we've ever stayed anywhere." Daniel said with a proud smile on his face.

"What made you stay here in Corvallis?" Asked Regina.

"You." Elsa said with a smile as she leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend on the head.

Suddenly they heard voices down the hall. Elsa quickly scrambled out from behind Regina to sit at the foot of the bed. Regina's father appeared in the doorway a moment after Elsa got settled.

"Regina, darling. Your mother and I will be leaving in the morning to visit the the Edgeworths in Albany. We'll be gone 4 days. We love you." He kissed Regina on the forehead before turning to leave. Regina just sat there mouth wide open very confused. It was Elsa who spoke first. "Regina, are you alright?" Her girlfriend asked.

"I-I was on my death bed only hours ago and my father just came in here as if nothing was wrong..told me they were leaving and was not at all phased by my healed state.."

Daniel and Elsa both just laughed.

"That would be my doing." Daniel spoke. "Vampires can compel people. We stare into your eyes and tell you something and you believe or do whatever it is that we tell you. I compelled everyone that knew about your accident and condition to think that you fell but you were fine and were not hurt."

"That's actually really awesome." Reinga laughed. "What other things can vampires do?" she asked still very curious.

"Well," he began, "I can hear very well and I can heal people too. If they drink my blood it helps people heal. I can move very fast and jump great heights. If I wanted to I could turn off my emotions. It's like flipping a switch. Not a single bit of a pain or compassion. Just cold and empty. Feeling nothing. I don't know why anyone would want that. But it's possible. I can hold my liquor very well too." Daniel joked.

The next 4 days seemed to fly by with Regina learning more and more about the real Elsa and Daniel and being able to spend a lot more carefree time with her girlfriend while her parents weren't around. No one besides Daniel knew about them. They knew no one would accept or approve. Regina was in the sitting room waiting for her parents arrival. She was hoping they would have gifts for her. They usually did when they went away. The sun had just begun setting when their carriage finally pulled up. Regina greeted them at the front door. They hugged her and all went back to the sitting room.

"Regina," her mother began excitedly, "we have something very special to tell you!" Her mother had a smile on her face ear to ear. Whatever it was had to be great if her mother was this excited.

"yes darling," her father continued, "when we went to visit the Edgeworths we met their son Robin."

"Oh yes! Regina! He is such a handsome young man and is the same age as you! We discussed it with him and his parents and the two of you will be married in 6 months time!" Her mother exclaimed. Regina's heart sank. She felt as if the room were spinning and she was going to puke any minute. "Regina, isn't that wonderful news?" Her father questioned.

"I-I don- no, no it isn't wonderful! I don't want to marry him!" Regina cried out.

"Well you have to and you are going to! They're the richest neighboring family. It's only right the two of you marry!" Her mother yelled. Regina had nothing left to say. She just got up and ran straight to her room. She threw herself on her bed and just cried. She couldn't marry this man. She was in love with Elsa. She wanted to be with Elsa. Elsa. She needed to talk to Elsa. Drying her eyes she made her way down to the maids quarters. She found Elsa in her room alone writing in her spell book. Elsa glanced up and noticed her girlfriends tear stained face.

"Regina, wh-what happened? What's wrong?" Regina just threw herself into Elsa's arms and began sobbing on her shoulder. When she finally calmed down she told Elsa what had happened. If Elsa was angry she didn't show it. She was doing her best to stay calm and strong.

"We'll talk to Daniel. He'll know what to do. For now just come lay down. Everything will work out." Elsa led her girlfriend to her bed and let her rest against her chest.

About 45 minutes later Daniel was in Elsa's door way. He came to check up on her as he always did but he wasn't expecting to see Regina asleep in her lap. Before he could ask Elsa had already held her hand up to stop him. She explained the situation to him quietly trying not to wake her sleeping girlfriend. She finished by telling him she had no idea what to do or say about the situation. Unless she was going to kill someone there wasn't much she could do to stop this.

"We have to go. We have to leave and run. I know it's sooner than we planned but that's all I can think of." Daniel said. Elsa just shook her head.

"No, Daniel. We can't. I'm not prepared. We're not prepared!" Elsa began to raise her voice again. Her and Daniel discussed convincing Regina to run away with them however that was future talk. Nothing was fully planned out yet. They both just sat there in silence for a while before Daniel finally spoke again. "No, you're right. We aren't prepared. But we will be in 6 months. That will give us plenty of time to convince and prepare Regina." Elsa looked at Daniel like he was crazy at first but the longer she thought about it the more she realized how perfect sense he was making. Elsa agreed and the decided that as soon as Regina woke up they would tell her of their plan.

6 months came and went faster than any of them had expected. Robin had come to meet Regina and visit a few times. He was handsome enough but she was not attracted to him. He liked to talk about himself and show off his archery skills. Though Regina did enjoy the few times he let her try to use the bow.

It was April of 1865. The wedding was 6 days away. They were to run away the evening before the wedding. However, they hit a bump in the road when Robin and his family showed up early. There were more people there now. Getting everything together and getting away was going to be harder than they thought. Elsa and Regina had just finished discussing the early arrival of Robins family (and making out a little) when they heard footsteps in the hall. Quickly Elsa gathered up the dirty sheets in Regina's room that she was supposed to be tending to and took off down the hall. It was Cora, Regina's mother, who had been coming down the hallway. Smiling to her Elsa quickly ducked her head to avoid Cora's gaze. The woman made her feel very uneasy. As she passed her she felt a hand grasp firmly on her upper arm causing her to stop and face the woman beside her.

"Elsa," she began "I'm not a daft woman. So I don't expect to be treated as such." There was a pause.

"Ma'am I assure you I don't think tha-" She was cut off.

"I wasn't finished. I see the way you look at my daughter. I know you have feelings for her. Very wrong very unnatural feelings and if you do anything to mess up this wedding I can assure you that you won't even live long enough to regret it." Cora's grip tightened on Elsa's arm through-out her speech and the venom she spoke with was terrifying.

"Do you understand me, Elsa?"

"Y-yes ma'am.." Elsa mumbled and looked down.

As soon as Cora loosened her grip Elsa took off down the hall to find Daniel. They had to leave and sooner than anticipated. After talking to Daniel and explaining things to Regina they decided that after the dinner between the two families they would take off to their planned safe house. Daniel and Regina would go bring a few things there on their afternoon ride that day to make travel lighter and easier that evening. Elsa also explained to Regina that she was going to have to stay away from her for the next few days to please her mother. She promised to come visit her every evening before bed though after seeing the sad look on her girlfriends face.

The next two days were kind of crazy. Everyone running around planning and prepping for the big dinner and wedding approaching. Regina was relieved to go to the stables to go for a ride with Daniel and just get away. They packed up their things and saddled up the horses and headed off on their ride to the safe house. It was an old abandoned mill by the river. It only took about 30 minutes by horse to get there. The place was very old and run down but it would suffice for the time being. Once they got all their things inside the mill Regina decided to do some exploring. There was an upper loft that had an old ladder leading up to it. Regina started up the ladder and had made it about halfway up when the rung her foot was on snapped under her weight. Daniel was quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground however, the split wood had torn a pretty big gash in her right leg and she was bleeding quite a bit. Elsa was nowhere around to heal her and Daniel wasn't sure he would get her back fast enough. Deciding it was his only option he bit his own wrist to open his skin.

"Regina, you need to drink my blood or you'll bleed out." Regina's eyes went wide.

"B-but won't that turn me into a v-vampire?" Regina stuttered out.

"Just don't die for the next few days till it's out of your system." Daniel said with a smirk.

Hesitating some more and then taking a deep breath she grabbed his arm and pressed it to her lips taking in his blood. Instantly the wound on her leg grew smaller and smaller until it no longer existed. Staring at her leg in disbelief Regina just shook her head. "Impossible.." Daniel just laughed.

"Come on, lets get you back before you do something worse."

They got back on their horses and rode back to the stables so Regina could get back and get ready for the dinner.

As the sun was setting they all gathered around the dinner table. Conversation was polite and casual but Regina's mind was focussed elsewhere. She kept dreaming about the life her, Elsa, and Daniel were about to have. She had a dreamy smile on her face through the whole dinner. Had she been paying attention she would have noticed her mother eyeing her suspiciously during the whole dinner. Afterwards Regina said her goodbyes and headed off to her room. She was to meet Elsa and Daniel under the big oak a little ways from where her window was at midnight. She had just tossed her bag out the window and was halfway out it when her mother came in the room.

"Regina." Cora said firmly as she walked across the room.

"Mother, no, please, understand..." Regina began.

Cora just eyed her daughter for a moment halfway out this second story window. She reached out and grabbed her daughters arms before she continued.

"You are in love with her, aren't you?" Cora asked incredulously.

"Y-yes, mother. Please, understand. I don't want to marry Robin! I love Elsa! As your only daughter don't you want me to be happy!?" Regina cried out.

Cora laughed dryly before pulling her daughters arms up further letting her hang just in her grip. She looked her dead in the eyes, her own void of any emotion before she spoke again.

"It is wrong and unnatural and not acceptable to be feeling or thinking that way." She paused, Regina shaking in her mothers grasp, feet trying to find purchase anywhere. Cora leaned forward shaking her head and said "I have no daughter" as she let go of her grip on her daughters arms. A small scream caught in Regina's throat as she fell to the ground. Daniel saw her falling from his spot under the tree and ran to catch her but the tree was too far he got there too late. Regina had hit the ground. Smashing her head and snapping her neck. She was dead. Elsa ran up behind Daniel letting out a blood curdling scream as she realized what happened. She looked up and saw Cora in the window. "This is all your fault. You should have left well enough alone." Cora spat before turning to leave. Elsa dropped to her knees at Regina's side trying to find a pulse and wracking her brain for any type of spell she knew to fix this. Daniel however, stood behind her unmoving. Frozen. His mind focussed on the days previous events. Regina falling, getting hurt, drinking his blood. He knew what was coming. What was going to happen. They needed to get her out of there. Shoving Elsa aside he bent down to pick Regina up.

"D-daniel, wh-what are you doing?" Elsa cried out grabbing his arm.

"We have to go. To the safe house. Now. I'll explain on the way."  
>Scooping up Regina and dragging Elsa to her feet and dragging her towards the woods until she finally began to run on her own they took off towards the safe house. On the way Daniel explained what had happened earlier.<p>

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Elsa screamed and stopped running. They were about half way there. Daniel stopped as well and just stared at her. "Daniel..she..she drank your blood? T-today!? That means shes turning! She's going to wake up a vampire!" She shouted at him smacking him upside the head.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know her mother was going to toss her out a window!? Look, we have to keep moving. We can't let them find us and we need to get ready to take care of this when she wakes. You need to make her a ring and we need to figure things out now lets move."

Elsa just sighed and continued along the way to the mill. They arrived after not too much longer. Elsa made a makeshift bed for Daniel to lay Regina in. He sat watch over her while Elsa went to work on making the ring she had gotten to give her once they got here into a daylight ring. It pained her to know her girlfriend was going to wake up a vampire. She loved Daniel and all but if things weren't handled right they could lose her. Knowing the spell and having performed it several times in the last few years it didn't take her very long. It was morning by the time Regina had finally awoken. She sat up and quickly grabbed her head. She had a pounding headache. The movement awoke Elsa who then woke up Daniel.

"Regina! H-how do you feel?" Elsa asked hesitantly.

"My head hurts. Wh-what happened? M-my mother threw me out the window..d-did you heal me?" She asked. Daniel and Elsa both just shared looks. As if invisibly drawing straws as to who was going to break it to her. It was Elsa who spoke first.

"Here," Elsa reached into her pocket to pull out the ring "I wanted to give this to you when we got out here. I love you." She pressed her lips to Regina's as a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Elsa, why are you crying?" Regina asked. Elsa just stood up and ran out of the mill before the tears fell harder and faster. It was Daniels fault anyway. He could explain. Regina stood to follow her but Daniel stopped her.

"Regina, we need to talk." He sighed. "Yesterday, you know how I healed you with my blood?" Regina just nodded with a look of confusion on her face. "Well..last night..when your mother..well..you know..when you fell..you..you died.." Regina just stared at him for a moment blinking until realization hit her. She felt as if she were going to be sick. This wasn't happening. That would mean.. "Y-you mean..I'm..I'm a va-vampire?" She stuttered out. Daniel nodded.

"Regina, I am so sorry. I never in a million years thought you would die any time soon! I promise I'll help you. Elsa and I both. That ring she gave you will allow you to walk in the day time sun. You can feed off of animals or if you have to feed from humans just don't kill them and be sure to erase their memory with compulsion. I'll walk you through it but you've seen me do it before so you know it isn't hard.." he trailed off. A scream from outside caused them both jump cutting their conversation short. "Elsa!" they both cried out. They ran to the door and stepped outside where they saw Robin holding elsa hostage with an arrow to her throat her hands tied behind her back.

"Regina!? Your mother said you were dead! That it was their fault! You must come back with me. We're to be married and your family is grieving over a daughter who is not gone!" Robin spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. Let my girlfriend go." Regina spat. Daniel went to lunge at Robin but he shoved the arrow pointed at Elsa's neck into it furthercausing her to drop to her knees and cry out again. With his hands now free he loaded an arrow into his bow aiming it at Daniel. Both Daniel and Regina's focus was on Elsa who was now bleeding profusely from the wound in her neck. They hadn't even noticed Robin release his wooden arrow until it had lodged itself in Daniels chest. Regina's eyes went wide as she watched Daniel clutch his chest and his whole body slowly turn gray and lifeless. Looking back to Robin she saw his focus was on the scene that just took place in front of him. He began to approach Daniel to further inspect the odd spectacle. Realizing he was distracted Regina took this as an opportunity to test her super speed. Quickly she ran up behind Robin to snap his neck but at the last minute she sunk her teeth into his neck deciding she wanted him to die slowly and suffer. She was going to drain him for what he had done to her best friend and she knew she needed to feed anyway. Dropping his lifeless body to the ground she heard a groan come from behind her. Turning she saw Elsa on the ground with a pool of blood around her. She ran to her girlfriend covering the leaking wound.

"No, no, no. Please, no. Elsa, I can't lose you both. I love you, please. Can't I heal you!? Or you heal yourself!?" Elsa shook her head.  
>"I can't be healed by vampire blood and I'm too weak to heal myself. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Regina. Please, get out of here. Go create a new life for yourself. But please don't turn into a monster. Don't let this control you take what you've learned from Daniel and I these last few months and use it start fresh..I-I l-love you.." Elsa choked out the last words before more blood came pouring out her mouth. Regina leaned in and kissed her anyways. "I love you too, Elsa.." A loud sob escaped her throat as she felt Elsa take her last breath in her lap. Her body shook uncontrollably as she cried. She lost her girlfriend, her best friend, and ultimately her life all in the same day. Suddenly Regina heard a rustling in the brush behind her. "Robin? Is that you? Did you find them?" A voice called out. She didn't recognize it. At first anger crossed her and she wanted to tear whoever it was limb for limb. But then she remembered Elsa's words. '<em>Start fresh. Don't become a monster. Leave.' <em>Taking one last look at the woman she loved the last few years she leaned in and kissed her one last time. She then stood and walked over to the man who had been her best friend staring down at his open eyes, she leaned over and closed them. "Goodbye, Daniel." She took a deep breath before taking one last look over at Elsa. "I love you, Elsa." She spoke aloud before she took off into the woods in the opposite direction the voice had come. She was going to make a new life. Sever her ties. Regina was going to start fresh. As a vampire.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT**

**A/N: Yay! Chapter 3 is here! And with 30 minutes to spare from what I promised my Tumblr followers. ;)**

**Trigger warning for slight mention of abuse.**

**These next few weeks may be a little touch and go for me as I will be out of town for Thanksgiving and then ****celebrating my 21st birthday the following weekend. Though I will do my best to update weekly! No promises though. I guess I'm going to aim for Sunday's to be my update day. **

**As always, enjoy and review!**

Today was the day Emma would head up to Oregon and start her big adventure. Today is the day she would get away. Her foster father made her stay a few days longer than intended to spend more time with Neal and was making her drive herself up there after last weeks incident as "punishment".

As if the beating she took when her apology didn't go the way he wanted it to wasn't enough. It had been two weeks since her foster father made her apologize to Neal and he had come over every day since and each day tried to convince her that OSU wasn't best for her. She was careful when arguing with him but made sure to keep her ground.

She and Ruby were finishing packing up her old yellow beetle when he pulled up. Locking eyes with her Ruby gave her an encouraging smile. Emma hadn't told Ruby about what happened last week nor had she told Ruby that she didn't think she loved him anymore. Ruby simply thought Emma was sad to say goodbye. He got out of his truck and came around to lean on the hood of it waiting for Emma to come over to him. Noticing this Emma took a deep breath and walked over to where he was standing.

"Hi" She started shyly.

"Hey." He replied.

Then there was a long silence before he finally spoke again.

"So, this is really happening?" He asked knowing the answer.

Emma only nodded. To which Neal responded by pulling her into a hug. After what seemed like forever Emma finally pushed back.

"Neal, I have to get going. I'm sorry." Emma mumbled before turning to leave but before she could Neal grabbed her arm, hard, pulling her back towards him, taking his other hand under her chin and forcing her head up. He pressed his lips to hers shoving his tongue in her mouth that had already been open in surprise. When he finally broke away her gripped her arm even tighter pulling her closer leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"So help me if I find out you're cheating on me up there I will make you regret it." Letting go of her with a small shove he turned to wave to Ruby before getting back in his pick-up and speeding off.

Emma just stood there stunned for a moment as realization hit her. That's what his problem had been this whole time? Emma wondered to herself. Neal wasn't sad because he'd miss her he was worried that she was going away and going to cheat on him? And she thought she was insecure. Shaking the thought from her head she went back over to her beetle to help Ruby finish shifting everything to get the trunk to close.

"Well, Em. I guess this is goodbye.."

Emma only nodded sadly. Ruby was her best friend and she hated to leave her.

"But only for now! I'll be up at the end of the month when I move in with my grandmother! It's not too far from where you'll be!" Ruby quickly added.

Emma smiled and gave Ruby a big hug.

"I love you, Rubes! I'll call you when I get there!"

With that Emma gave her best friend a kiss on the cheek and got in her bug. She plugged in her phone and got her GPS set up. In 6 hours she'd be to her new home. While she was sad to leave her best friend she was beyond excited to see what Oregon had in store for her.

It was just after 5 when Emma pulled up to the campus. It was beautiful just like all the pictures Emma had seen. Emma pulled out the campus map from the folder of freshman info she received in the mail a few weeks prior and quickly located her building. She parked the bug and went inside to see where her room was located. As a foster kid Emma didn't have a whole lot of belongings and she was very relieved for that at the moment as her room was on the top floor.

Locating which room was hers she dug the key out of her back pocket letting herself into the room. The room was nice. Fairly big for a dorm room. On either side of the room there were small walkin closets and right behind the door was a small kitchenette area. There were two raised up beds and two desks as well. Each bed had a small dresser underneath it.

By the looks of things her roommate had already been here for quite a while. Her bed was all made and she had some posters hung. She had a lovely color scheme of purple and sea foam green going on. Emma silently hoped her own black and red wouldn't clash with it.

It only took Emma a total of three trips to get all of her belongings into her dorm room. By her third return her roommate had made an appearance. She was slightly taller than Emma with gorgeous red hair.

"Oh hi!" She yelped excitedly. "you must be Emma!"

"Uh, yes..yes I am.."

The taller girl just stood there smiling and blinking at Emma for a moment before speaking up again.

"Oh, forgive me! I'm so rude! I'm Ariel! I read your name off the top of your map over there." She pointed to where Emma had put her map and school paperwork down. "We have 2 courses together! English and Mythology! I hear the teacher is such a witch. I mean not literally of course! But a very mean woman. She's new here and I've only heard unfriendly things. I'm talking a lot. I apologize. Would you like help unpacking?" Emma just smiled and nodded at the overly friendly girl.

They spent the next 30 minutes unpacking and getting to know each other better. Well, Emma got to know Ariel better. The girl seemed to love talking. Ariel was from the coast. Only two hours from the college. She grew up in a small beach town on the water and loved to swim. She was one of many children.

Once everything was unpacked and Emma's bed was made she hopped up on it to relax. Just as she laid back her stomach made a loud rumbling noise causing her and Ariel to both giggle. Sitting up from her own bed Ariel tossed a glance over to Emma.

"I hear there's a pretty awesome diner about 30 minutes south of here, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Ariel asked.

At this point Emma sat up as well. She thought about it for a moment but couldn't exactly think of when she last ate. And clearly her body was starving. Shrugging her shoulders she stood up from her bed and grabbed her keys.

"Sure. But I'm driving!"

It didn't take terribly long to get there. It was basically just one road. It being the Sunday before classes the diner was pretty empty. Ariel and Emma walked up and sat down at some bar stools at the counter. Emma was looking down at the menu in front of her when she heard a slightly familiar voice call her name.

"Emma Swan."

She froze for a moment. She had never lived in Oregon before. Who could know her? Slowly lifting her head she was met with a warm friendly smile. She had only met this woman once but she recognized that smile.

"Granny!" Emma exclaimed.

She looked around the diner and then back to Granny. "This is your diner!? Why didn't Ruby tell me!" Granny just laughed. Shaking her head giving another smile she began "Yes, dear. This is my diner. Ruby wanted it to be a surprise that she would be so close when she moves up here at the end of the month." Emma had a smile beaming from ear to ear. Her best friend was only going to be 30 minutes away!

"Oh! I'm being so rude! Ariel, this is my best friends grandmother. Granny, this is my roommate Ariel!"

"Nice to meet you, sweetheart."

"Likewise! Great place you've got here!"

Just then the bell on the door rang and what little chatter was taking place died down all eyes landing in the same place. Emma turned towards the sound of heels clicking in their direction. The person who entered was a beautiful brunette with a nice lean body. She was wearing black dress pants and a white button up. Emma was in awe at the beauty of this woman. She wore a very serious expression but God was she breath taking-wait..breathtaking? Emma shook her head. What was she doing? This was a woman..she had a boyfriend..Granny's voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"Well, well, I wasn't sure the rumors were true. Regina Mills. It really is you." With a huge smile on her face. Suddenly the strange woman's face softened and she cracked a small smile.

"Granny," Regina began, "it's so great to see you again." She came around the counter and gave Granny a hug. Emma watched closely as the woman's hips swayed while she walked. She felt someone rapidly tapping her knee and brought her focus to that. It was Ariel. "Em! That's our mythology teacher! That's The Regina Mills!" Ariel squealed. "She doesn't seem so terrible. She seems quite friendly with your friends grandmother.." Ariel nodded towards where Granny and Regina were talking. She had a beautiful small smile on her face listening to Granny. Emma just shrugged and looked back down into her menu trying to distract herself from staring at Regina. She was succeeding untill the woman started talking again.

"Well, Granny, it was so lovely to see you but I need to go do some last minute preparations for classes but I'll come back by often. Especially if you keep my drink on hand." Regina said with a wink before hugging Granny and heading back out the door.

Ariel and Emma ordered their food and then chatted briefly with Granny while they waited for it. Ariel was right, the food was good here. It didn't take them long before they were finished and back on the road to the school. Emma was fairly quiet the whole road home. She kept thinking about that woman. Her teacher. _Regina._ 'Such a lovely name'. Emma thought to herself. They got back to their school a little quicker knowing the way this time and headed straight upstairs to their dorm. Emma was collecting her shower stuff to go get ready for bed when Ariel spoke up.

"Hey, Em? Is everything okay?"

Emma just turned to face Ariel giving her a look of confusion.

"Well, I mean you were just really quiet the whole way home. I just thought maybe something happened."

"I'm fine, girl. No worries. Just a little tired. It's been a long day." Flashing her a quick smile she headed off to the community bathrooms.

45 minutes later Emma was done and threw herself into her bed ready to crash. She was nervous and excited all at the same time to start tomorrow. She tossed and turned for a while trying to sleep but she couldn't stop thinking about the diner tonight. She was so excited that Ruby would be so close. And it was awesome that her grandmothers diner was only 30 minutes away. Then there was Regina. She was straight-up checking this woman out. She had never done that before. She had a boyfriend! And she's straight! Letting out a frustrated groan Emma rolled over and willed herself to sleep.

Emma didn't have any trouble finding her classes. She was relieved to get to English to meet back up with Ariel though. It was nice knowing someone else in a room full of strangers. After English they had Mythology. Emma had been dreading and looking forward to this class all in one. Her and Ariel chose seats over near the windows of the room in the second row.

Each desk had a 3 page syllabus laid out on it. Ariel and Emma both groaned at the same time. They were sick of syllabus' at this point. They all basically said the same thing. Show up. Be on time. Turn in work. Pay attention.

They had gotten to the class a bit early so no one else was in there yet so they both started glancing over the syllabus. After about 5 minutes Emma could here heels clicking down the hall. She looked up to the doorway just in time to be met with gorgeous brown eyes locking onto her own emerald ones. Swallowing hard she forced herself to look down and break eye-contact.

Noticing the younger womans blush Regina chuckled softly. "Well" she began "you ladies are here early. Class isn't for another 15 minutes." The blush on Emma's face grew even more and it seemed she had forgotten how to speak. Thankfully Ariel hadn't. "Oh! Well, we were already over here from our English class so we just came right in. I hope that's alright." Ariel said.

Though the red head was talking Regina's eyes never left the beautiful blonde that was avoiding eye contact. Smiling softly she nodded her head. "Quite alright. As you must know I am Regina Mills. You can call me Professor Mills or Ms. Mills. Either is fine." Her eyes finally moving from the blond in front of her to the red head waiting for her to speak up again.

"Very nice to meet you, ma'am! I'm Ariel. Ariel Triton." Regina nodded her head and shook the girl out stretched hand. She looked back at the blonde sitting beside the Ariel girl waiting for her to speak up. Ariel cleared her throat and gently kicked her leg.

"Ah, I-I'm Emma..Emma Swan.." Emma said finally making eye contact again.

Stifling her laugh, trying not to embarrass the poor girl, Regina shook her hand and smiled warmly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Swan." By this time some more students had started trickling in. "Well, if you'll excuse me ladies." Regina said motioning towards the other students before walking away. Emma stared at her the whole walk across the classroom.

"HELLO! Earth to Emma! What was that!?" Her roommate squealed.

"Huh? Wh-what are you talking about?" Emma stuttered out.

"Uh, Idunno. You forgot how to talk or something! And would hardly look at her! Until she walked away that is!" Ariel laughed raising an eyebrow.

Emma only blushed and her eyes went wide.

"I..she..she just makes me nervous, I guess. She's kind of scary." Emma lied. Not entirely sure of the reasons behind her own actions. Ariel simply shrugged her shoulders and turned her head to the front of the classroom where their teacher was beginning her welcome to class speech.

Professor Mills was about halfway through the syllabus but Emma couldn't tell you what she had been talking about. She hadn't been paying attention to the words coming out of those beautiful lips of hers. _Ugh._ Emma groaned internally and mentally scolded herself. _What is wrong with you!? Get it together, Swan! She is a WOMAN and so are you. A taken woman. With a boyfriend. a BOY friend. That you've had sex with! _And that's when it all hit her. She did have a boyfriend. One she wasn't sure she loved anymore. And yes she had sex with him. Though it was never enjoyable. Quite frankly she hated having sex with him.

Suddenly things started clicking in her head. One thing leading to another. Her mind had been racing now with all kinds of thoughts, maybe the reason she didn't love Neal was because she didn't like men..and that's why she hadn't enjoyed sex with him and that would why she was- "Holy shit!" Emma hadn't meant to yell that out loud but she had and she regretted it immediately as Ariels wide eyes fell on her own giving her a 'what the hell' kind of look. The next thing she noticed was Professor Mills eyes on her. "Ms. Swan, do you find something interesting about my discipline policy?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow and small smirk on her face.

"Uh-I-uh..no..no ma'am..I apologize.."  
>"See me after class, Ms. Swan." Her stomach did a backflip. She was going to be alone with the woman she had been ogling all class long. When she broke eye contact she noticed Ariel's eyes still on her with a very confused face.<p>

"I'll explain when we get back to the dorm." She mouthed to her. Ariel just nodded and turned her attention back to their teacher.

Sinking down in her chair and letting her head fall against the back of her seat she let her mind wander to thought that caused her outburst. She might not be into men and possibly had a huge girl crush on her new college professor. _What a way to start college. _She thought to herself. What was she going to tell Neal? How was she going to tell him? Surely her foster father would kill her. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe she was wrong. She couldn't be attracted to her teacher. She was of the same sex as her. Emma had never been attracted to women. Had she?

Emma was so wrapped in her thoughts she hadn't realized the class was over and she was now the only one in there. She was brought out of her train of thought by an intoxicating scent of cinnamon and apples. Professor Mills was now sitting in front of her with a very concerned look on her face.

"Ms. Swan? Is everything okay? Between your outburst and the fact that class ended 5 minutes ago.." She trailed off waiting for Emma to offer an explanation.

"I just have a lot on my mind right now is all.." Emma said quietly staring down at her desk not wanting to look Regina in the eyes.

Regina reached out and put her hand on Emma's leg. "I have office hours right now..if you need someone to talk to.." Regina knew the effect she had on this girl. She knew it last night when she had seen her in the diner. She saw the girl checking her out. Though she wasn't sure the girl was aware of the effect she was causing. She knew it was wrong for staff to get involved with their students but Regina was never one for playing by the rules. Especially through-out her years of vampirism. _Might as well live it up. _She always thought to herself knowing she'd almost always be able to clean up or fix whatever mess she landed in between her own supernatural perks and those of the many folks she'd met over her many years.

Besides if she were being honest this girl had quite the effect on her that she couldn't really explain. Which was very rare. Regina Mills didn't have feelings towards anyone. Not since Elsa. Yet, for some reason something about this girl in front of her made her want to know more. Emma mumbled something very quietly pulling Regina from her thoughts.

Had it not been for her keen sense of hearing she would have missed it but she heard Emma loud and clear. "That would really nice.." Regina smiled widely. Pleased that it had been so easy. But then Emma continued even quieter than before. "But I can't.." And with that the younger girl had gotten up rather quickly and all but ran from the classroom leaving Regina sitting alone. If she wanted to get to know this girl she was going to have to try a little bit harder.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! So many follows I'm so excited! That is so awesome! I never though it wold be this popular! And thank you so much for the awesome reviews!**

**I'm super sorry this took so long but I was on vacation and now it's finals week so I've been super busy!**

**Next semester I won't really have homework so I should be able to update more!**

**Anyway, this is a short chapter just to hold you all over!**

**TW: Mentions/implication of rape/abuse.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT. Nope. **

**All mistakes are my own because I'm too scared to ask someone to beta for me. Also, I edited this at 4am so please be extra forgiving. Love you all!**

**I wish I knew how to do the page/line break thingy but I don't so yeah..Here we go..**

Emma couldn't get away fast enough. As soon as she was in the hallway she took off into a full sprint towards her dorm room. Once she was in the stairwell she finally stopped running and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She slowly slid to the ground letting her head fall back. Her leg still tingled where her teachers hand had been resting just minutes ago. Taking a deep breath and clearing her head Emma pushed herself up off the ground and continued her trek up to her dorm.

Ariel had already made it back and was sitting on her bed brushing her hair when Emma came storming in. She threw her bag down on her desk chair and threw herself down face first on her bed. Burying her face in her pillow she let out a frustrated scream. Ariel had sat silently watching.

After Emma was done screaming into her pillow she finally spoke up "So.." She began. "Anything you want to talk about..?" She asked. After another moment of silence Emma finally sat up ad turned to face Ariel. "I think I have a crush on our Mythology teacher." Emma blurted out. "Well, I mean that's okay it's perfectly normal to be attracted to woman, Emma, I-"

"I have a boyfriend." Emma cut in.

"Oh, well, people can like both sexes.."

"But I don't love him. And the sex is so awful. God it is so awful and uncomfortable. I hate it so much." Emma's voice got quieter until the last part was only a whisper.

"Well then why are you having sex with him, silly?" Ariel asked without thinking about it first but as soon as Emma's eyes hit hers she realized what had been going on.

"Oh, Emma!" Ariel said softly as she hopped off her bed and ran to jump in Emma's to hold the blonde. As soon as Ariel wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulders the blonde lost it and began to cry. Ariel just held her and rubbed soothing circles on her back till the crying stopped. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked hesitantly. Emma remained quiet for a minute before she took a deep breath and proceeded to explain her situation and problem with Neal and how her father expected them to get married. "Ariel, how am I supposed to marry someone I don't love?" Emma asked on the verge of crying again.

"I think..you need to call Neal and talk to him.." Emma sniffles and nodded.

"Will you help me figure out what to say?" Ariel smiles sadly at her roommate and nodded her head. "Of course, Ems."

Meanwhile, Regina Mills sat at her desk with a certain blonde on her mind. She should be filling out her drop/add forms for students but she couldn't focus. She was drawn out of her thoughts by a loud knock on her door.

"Earth to Regina! Anyone home!?" It was her best friend, Katherine Nolan.

"Sorry, I was..distracted.." Regina said.

"I know that look. Has Regina Mills picked out the first conquest of the semester?" Katherine asked with a smirk.

"Something like that.." Regina replied, her mind wandering back to the blonde.

"Who is she? Maybe I have her in one of my courses?"

"Emma Swan." Regina stated, after a minute of silence unsure she wanted to give Katherine this kind of information.

"Swan..Swan..Emma Swan.." She thought out loud "Hmm, oh! Blonde hair, very thin? Almost sickly looking?" Regina just nodded at Katherines description of the girl. "Ah, yes, I have her first thing in the morning in my American history course. So, what's your plan of attack? Fucking her senseless in your office during office hours? Or maybe tutoring at the mansion turning into drinks and crazy sex in the den?" Katherine began to list a few of Regina's typical techniques for getting a girl into bed.

Regina just rolled her eyes.

"No, neither." She replied simply.

"Hm, got something new? You might need something new she doesn't exactly seem like the hook-up kind." Her friend stated with a laugh.

"That's the thing. I'm not trying to get Ms. Swan into bed. Not right away anyway.." She trailed off.

Her friend just sat there mouth open wide.

"Do close your mouth, Dear. You'll catch flies." Regina said dryly.

"Hold up. Regina Mills. The lesbian vampire _sex goddess_ is not trying to get this girl she is pining after into bed!?" Her friend shrieked out.

Rolling her eyes for the third time since Katherine came by she plastered a smile on her face. "Correct. She's..different..I want to get to know her..learn more about her..it's more than just wanting to bed an attractive woman..it's almost like..like I might want something more with her.." Regina trailed off.

"You better be careful, Ms. Mills. People might start to think you have a heart." Katherine said with a wink. Regina just scoffed.

"No. Seriously. This is quite interesting. I've never seen you act like this. I thought that you had turned off your emotions for long you forgot how to feel.." Katherine spoke with a very serious tone now.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I still know how to feel." Regina sneered. "I just learned how to not let it show and got good at keeping my feelings hidden after simply not having any for so long. But this girl..I've only just met her but she makes me want to show them again.." Regina said, refusing to look at her best friend.

"Well then I like her already." Katherine said as she stood up. "I'll see you at the house, darling." She called over her shoulder as she left Regina in her office to mull over all her thoughts.

After much discussion Ariel and Emma decided it would be best if she took a trip home to speak with both Neal and her father in person. Ariel had wanted to go and be there for her but she had swim team tryouts Saturday morning.

The next several days Emma could hardly focus on anything. She had no idea how to go about talking to Neal and her father but she knew it had to be done. She just needed to figure out what to say. It was only the beginning of the semester but Emma was already slacking in the paying attention department with this on her mind.

Friday Finally came and Emma still had no clue what to do. She was sitting in Ms. Mills class, her last class of the day and she could just not focus. Her mind was on anything but what they were discussing. The lore of werewolves maybe? She leaned over to check what page Ariel was on and spotted a bolded vocab word "**Lycanthrope" **yeah, werewolves.

"Close your books." Ms. Mills said. "We're having a pop quiz. You can thank your fellow students who think they can sleep through this class and get an easy A." She said as she glared to the back corner of the room where a few guys who looked like they were jocks were sitting.

Emma had taken some notes on the things they discussed this week but she had kept spacing out worrying about this weekend. She glanced over the paper in front of her, it was only a vocab test but she only recognized half the names in the word box. "Shit" she cursed barely above a whisper, however, somehow Ms. Mills' ears caught it. "Ms. Swan, language!? Really, you're not off to a great start. Twice this week and we're only on week one." Regina said with a smirk and a slight hint of teasing to her voice. She noticed the younger girl had seemed rather distracted this week but figured it was just because it was the first week of classes and nothing more. The worry flashing across her face at this very moment, however, suddenly had Regina concerned. "See me after class, Ms. Swan." Ariel looked over at Emma flashing her a cheesy grin and wiggling her eyebrows. Emma just kicked her friend and went back to focus on the quiz in front of her.

The last 30 minutes of the class dragged on as she sat there staring at her quiz unable to fill out half of it. Ms. Mills announced that the class was dismissed and to turn the quizzes in on her desk on their way out the door.

Emma waited till everyone else had gotten up and left before she slowly made her way to her teachers desk. She placed her quiz on the pile and stood there for a moment before clearing her throat to get her teachers attention. Once Ms. Mills looked up Emma quickly looked down, avoiding eye contact.

Regina noticed the quick shift in Emma's gaze and smiled sadly. "Have a seat, Ms. Swan." she said as she grabbed the quizzes to put them in her bag for grading later before she lectured Emma on her language, again. As she was neatening the stack she noticed that Emma's was on top and skimmed it finding it to be half blank.

"You barely answered these." Said Regina.

"Yeah, I, uh, didn't really know too many.." Emma answered.

Regina put the papers down and stood to come round to where Emma was sitting, taking a seat next to her.

"We went over all of those words in class this week.." Regina said softly.

"Yeah, I guess I must have spaced out a bit.." Emma replied, still refusing to look at her teacher.

"Em- Ms. Swan, is everything okay? You've seemed very distracted lately..and it is only week one..I want you to be successful in this class. You seem to have great potential." Regina said trying to give the girl a small smile.

"I-I just..have had a lot on my mind and have been a bit stressed out I guess.." Emma mumbled.

Regina sat there quiet for a moment unsure of what to do.

"I promise I'm a really great listener if you want to talk about it.." Regina finally began.

Suddenly Emma's head shot up and she finally made eye contact. Regina saw that the younger girls eyes were brimming with tears. Dropping the semi-professional teacher act Regina spoke again reaching out to touch Emma's arm.

"_Emma, _please talk to me. Let me try and help you."

Emma stayed quiet a moment more before finally speaking up. "I think I might be gay" she blurted out.

Regina fought hard to keep a smile from spreading across her face. The girl was finally beginning to realize herself what Regina figured out upon first meeting the girl.

"Sweetheart, that's perfectly oka-" Emma cut her off.

"No! No, it isn't! Because I have a boyfriend! And we've been together for two whole years. And recently everything seemed to be different and I just wasn't really feeling anything towards him and I couldn't understand it till I sa-" Emma stopped herself just before admitting seeing Regina had made her question her sexuality. She cleared her throat and went on.

"Uh, till I finally moved out here and had a bit of a realization moment and now I have to go home this weekend and tell him and I don't know what to do or say or how to do it and I just..I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do!" By this point the tears had started freely falling from Emma's eyes. Regina reached out and pulled the younger woman close letting her sob into her chest.

"Shh. It'll be alright. Everything will be fine." A few minutes stretched by before Emma finally pulled back looking down sheepishly immediately.

"Where is 'home' for you?" Regina asked.

"R-redland, California.." she mumbled quietly.  
>"Wow, that's quite the drive. Is Ms. Triton going with you?" Regina asked knowing the two roommates were bonding well.<p>

"No, she has swim tryouts. I'm going myself." Emma said a little louder this time finding some confidence again.

"By yourself?! That's a good 6 hour drive!" Regina said half shouted.

Emma just shrugged. "I drove here by myself. It wasn't too bad.." Emma lied. The drive up here was awful. 6 hours alone in a car had sucked.

Regina sat weighing her options and thinking about how this could go wrong before speaking again.

"No. I'm going with you." She said, matter of factly.

Emmas eyebrows furrowed. "I-I beg your pardon?" Emmas asked. Unsure she heard correctly. Her incredibly attractive teacher who made her question her sexuality in the first place wants to drive with her down to her hometown for the weekend?

"I'm not letting you go alone. You may have driven up by yourself but it's a long drive and as distracted as you've been lately it is not safe for you to be driving by yourself. I'll write down my address for you, I want you to meet me at my house at 10 tomorrow morning."

"A-are you sure..?" Emma asked. Still confused by it all.

"Yes, I'm sure, Emma. I'm your teacher. Looking after your well being is my job." Regina rolled her eye internally at the lie she just told. Sure she wanted Emma to be safe but she really just wanted to spend some time with the blond.

"O-okay.." Emma stuttered out. Of course. She's your teacher. She's just being nice. Emma sighed internally.

With that Regina patted Emma's leg and stood, walking towards her desk. She jotted down her phone number and address and the time Emma was to be there and sent the girl on her way. "Be on time! I hate tardiness!" She called after her. Once Emma was out of sight she couldn't stop the enormous smile from spreading across her face.


End file.
